Report: Unprecedented Number of Refugees Fleeing U.S. for Canada

An unprecedented number of refugees living in the U.S. are fleeing to Canada after President Donald Trump promised to crack-down on refugee resettlement.

In a report by Fox News, groups who work with migrants resettling in the U.S. are saying refugees are now crossing into Canada illegally.

“They’re not crossing at the actual point where there’s an immigration and customs offices,” Rita Chahal, with the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council said in a report by the Guardian.

“They’re walking through prairie fields with lots and lots of deep snow,” Chahal continued. “In Europe we’re seeing people in boats; now just imagine a prairie flatland and snow for miles and miles.”

In 2016 alone, more than 7,000 refugee applicants crossed into Canada from the U.S. legally – an increase of 63 percent from the year before, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). At the same time, some 2,000 refugees entered Canada from the U.S. illegally.

Though Trump has not mentioned deporting migrants or refugees who have already entered the U.S., Welcome Place counselor Ghezae Hagos said it is merely Trump’s immigration talk that has refugees leaving.

“The U.S. presidential campaign, putting undocumented immigrants and refugees in the spotlight, terrified them,” Hagos told Reuters in a report. “The election and inauguration of Mr. Trump appears to be the final reason for those who came mostly last month.”

John Binder is a contributor for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.